1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to packages for compact disc audio or video recordings and in particular to a compact disc package in an album format which serves to protectively store the disc.
2. Status of Prior Art
Digital techniques are now widely used to make sound and video recordings. Thus when recording music or speech, the analog signal output of the microphone amplifier is sampled and converted into a stream of digital bits that are recorded on magnetic tape and then transferred from the tape to a rotating master disc. The recording on the master disc is in the form of microscopic indentations in a spiral track on one surface of the disc. The master disc is used to create stampers for pressing vinyl records, called compact discs or CD's.
The player for a CD record uses a laser beam optical pick-up and makes no physical contact with the disc. A similar technique is used to make digital video recordings, the resultant video compact discs being referred to as VCD's. As used herein, the term "compact disc" encompasses both CD's and VCD's.
Compact discs are conventionally packaged in a so-called "jewel box" which consists of a rectangular casing having a hinged lid, the casing being molded of transparent, synthetic plastic material. The casing accommodates a plastic cassette in which the compact disc is held in place within the casing.
A conventional jewel box package, because of its relatively complex nature, is expensive to make and assemble. Moreover, the depth of the box for a compact disc is substantially greater than the thickness of the disc itself. This presents a problem; for in a typical retail establishment, shelf and counter space are at a premium, and the dimensions of a conventional jewel box compact disc package impose limits on the number of packages that can be kept in stock. This limitation also exists in home record libraries containing a multitude of compact discs.
Long-playing phonograph records whose diameter is much greater than that of a compact disc are often stored in an album. The album is provided with interhinged front and rear covers having paper sleeves bound between the covers into which the records are inserted. An album of this type is not only expensive to manufacture, but because of the sleeves they are somewhat difficult to load and unload, for each large diameter record must be inserted into a rectangular sleeve or removed therefrom. Since the sleeves are of paper, with continued use they tend to fray and tear.
In the package disclosed in my copending application Ser. No. 821,062 for a compact disc having impressed on one side thereof a sound or video recording (CD or VCD), the disc is nested in a circular well formed in a rectangular card having a backing sheet adhered thereto.
Printed on the printable unrecorded surface on the other side of the disc and in the region of the card surrounding this surface is a picture of a character who is related to the subject matter of the recording so that a portion of this picture appears on the printable surface of the disc, and the remainder on the card. Printed on the inner surface of the backing sheet in the region thereof encircled by the well is the same portion of the picture.
Hence when the compact disc is removed from the well in the card, one still sees the entire picture. The disc-loaded card is inserted in a transparent plastic sleeve having matching dimensions to provide a card-like package. To play the disc in an optical player, the card is removed from the sleeve and the disc withdrawn from the card.
A compact disc is often roughly handled, in the course of which it may be subjected to shocks as well as being exposed to contaminants. Unless a disc is protectively packaged, its quality may be impaired. While the conventional jewel box package for a compact disc affords adequate protection, it is not only expensive but, as noted previously, its space requirements create storage and shipping problems. Also it is bothersome to a user to remove a CD from a jewel box and to return it to the box after the CD is played. This is why CDs are often just piled up on a shelf or scattered rather than stored in jewel boxes in an organized library.
Another drawback of a conventional, transparent, plastic jewel box for a compact disc, is that data identifying the performers and the pieces recorded on the disc is printed on a small folder which is contained within the box and must be removed therefrom to be read. In the course of use, this folder is often misplaced